Infectiously Enthusiastic, Hockey-Loving Educational Parent, with a Panache for Connecting

How I Saved A Life

MOMMY! MOMMY …This was not the normal, Mom-Call., this was a panicked call for help. Katie, my mild mannered 9 year old, came down the stairs screaming my name. There is something in the potty with claws and it is screaming….

What? What did she say Andie?….I just ran, I ran up the stair and trailing behind me were the mini me’s. As I peeked in the bathroom door, I heard no screaming, but there was splashing around in the toilet bowl. It took me, a couple seconds to process what was floating belly up, arms flailing behind it’s head.

It was a baby squirrel, with a wet toilet paper sticking to it’s tail, head and body like seaweed. It was dying, no doubt. I now completely understand the meaning of belly up.

All three kids had their eyes glued to me, watching ever action I made. What was I going to do? I only had seconds to decide before this baby squirrel met its end. I plunged my hands into the urine filled toilet bowl. The lifeless, soundless little body was cold in my hands. It was gasping for air, but no air was getting into it’s lungs.

“Ok Buddy. You are going to have to work with me here,” I told that little squirrel. I began by pushing my fingers on his distended belly. Pee, I think it was pee, flew of our his penis and a whitish liquid came our it’s nose and mouth. The body was moving slightly but in more seizure like movements then actual purposeful movements.

You have to picture the scene, I’m standing in the bathroom, still in my pj’s. My oldest, traumatized daughter watches me intently. My middle daughter, mouth agape, asks me why this baby squirrel is not moving and my just past the toddler stage son is peering at me through his fingers that are covering his eyes. Of course I am going to do the next logical step to save this squirrel.

“Panda, get me a warm towel…Beckett get Mommy some toilet paper…KT plug in the heating blanket.” I sat down at the top step our staircase, wet baby squirrel now wrapped in a towel as I began to lightly blow into his nose and mouth. “Come on Buddy, Come on Buddy,” I whispered as I gently shook his little body. I rubbed his head with the toilet paper to dry it off as best as I could. Finally, a small squeak..a little hope showed itself to my mini-me’s and I.

I continued to blow gently into the little squirrel’s nose and mouth. It began to sneeze, clear goo came out of it’s nose and Beckett wiped it away. KT was humming to the baby squirrel, the tune sounded familiar but I could not place it. Andie just kept stroking the top of its head. Baby squirrel stopped sneezing and began to shake violently. That deep down cold with full body shake coupled with tiny intermittent squeaks. His little body was in shock and Baby Squirrel needed to get warm. In the strange but true file I have been here before. With cold baby squirrel in hand I knew the warmest place for him was in my bra. Now before you get all creeped out, baby squirrels need body heat to bring their little bodies back to a normal temperature. It was then I noticed, along with used toilet paper bits, the lice crawling on it’s body. Yes lice, the kind it takes a monstrous amount of time to get out of your home, his body was crawling with them. But with three wide-eyed offspring watching me I was not about to let a parasite stop me from saving this creature.

KT brought over the now warm heating blanket and covered us up. Baby Squirrel’s little body began to shake less. His body temperature was beginning to raise, he moved a little more as his claws began to grasp at my t-shirt fabric.

Suddenly, after several squeaks, Baby Squirrel jump out of my shirt and on the couch. The kids and I didn’t know wether to cry from happiness or fear. I quickly scooped up this still damp little creature and took him on to our back deck. He stumbled a little and steadied himself as he ran toward the closest tree. Mommy Squirrel was waiting on the top of the roof, she must have known we would bring him out safe and sound.

Baby Squirrel climbed in the tree and began to clean himself as little sneezes escaped from his nose. Bits of dried toilet paper fell off his body as he dry in the sun. Hours later he could be seen running on the roof of our home, carefree.

My children watched me save a tiny life, a life that might have been lost if I had not taken my daughter’s screams seriously. Each day we are faced with challenges and it is how we face these challenges that matters in the end. What I hope my children remember about this adventure is that we as a family chose to do the right thing for this little animal lice and all. In our backyard lives a Baby Squirrel and now, toilet paper and all, he is part of our family.

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4 Comments

Omg this seriously happened? I thought maybe you were delving into the world of creative writing. I can believe you saved baby squirrel. I would have totally freaked out if I had seen it covered in lice. Way to go Sherrie!

What a story! I have so many questions … holy camoly! Okay, so where did the squirrel come from? How did he end up in the toilet? You actually saw lice on it BEFORE you stuck it in your bra? When you say you breathed into its mouth … like, you actually put your mouth right on its mouth? (If yes, please go get a rabies check.) And last but not least — How awesome are you??? You are SUPERMOM!!!!!!!!!!!!

We decided he crawled down the unused chimney chute but we are unsure exactly how he got into the toilet bowl. I think he fell in trying to get a drink, while DH thinks he crawled through a pipe and past the safety value and up into the toilet bowl. YES! as I was attempting to revive this little squirrel the wetness made his fur somewhat transparent and I saw the small little lice crawling on his skin. NO..I got as close as I could to his nose and opened his mouth slightly with my fingers and blew into his nose/mouth softly ..like blowing bubbles soft. Thank you the kids are very proud of me..especially since there was pee in the toilet bowl 🙂